Author’s note: Charlie Cuzzetto is the president of the British Columbia Soccer Association.
CSN: Charlie, at this point in the story, I’m getting the sense that up until now, we in Canada have not really developed coaches specifically for professional clubs or the professional game – and that may be part of what’s hampered our development of professional players. I’m very interested to hear your thoughts.
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CC: That probably is correct. I think coaching doesn’t start at the professional level. I think we probably haven’t done as good a job as we should have. I think we’re on the right track now, at least identifying some of the areas. I think it’s at the lower level – the development stream, the developmental ages – where we’ve promoted competition instead of development. My understanding is that that’s going to be looked at quite closely. I think that’s where the key areas are – the developmental stages, under 16. Now that we have a lot more professional coaching at different clubs than we had five-to-ten years ago, I think that’s going to be a big help. There are a lot of talented coaches out there.
CSN: There are a lot of changes in British Columbia, with this new competitive league that’s starting up. Can you catch us all up on what’s going on there?
CC: Sure. There’s eight clubs we went through the process of getting a different platform for. Now they’re at the start-up stage, and will be playing up until February or March, and then the new season will start and run until October or November.
CSN: The focus here is very much on player development?
CC: That’s right. I guess in the past, some really good articles have talked about it. Columns by Jason de Vos and Dino Rossi have touched upon how we always, in the past, were seeing too much competition for trophies, and didn’t look at actual development. So this is a developmental league. Of course, it will be competitive. There have to be competitive aspects to it. But there will be areas where each player has to play a certain time. The other good thing about this is that the technical people are involved in creating standards for coaching development. The provincial association is going to put standards on the minimum requirements for coaching, so there’s an upgrade to coaching for the kids that register for these teams. There may be some hiccups in the short term, but that’s all going to be improved.
CSN: So what are the specific changes that are coming to coaching development? I’ve heard a broad criticism from quite a few places that the Canadian A-licence now puts a big influence on things like fitness and nutrition, and not enough on man-management, or on tactics and strategy.
CC: some of that is probably old criticism, because if you look at the course today, it’s not like that. My understanding – and I’m not directly involved in that part of it – is that it’s going to be looked at, enhanced and incorporated into the long-term player development aspect. I’ve talked to a lot of people, too, and there’s obviously something missing in our strategies. All have good coaches, all have good intentions, all have the right methodology that they’re going ahead with. But there’s one or two areas that we sort of missed, probably, and I think that’s going to be reviewed by the technical people to see what those areas are. Maybe we’re moving to competition too quickly. We’re not focusing on the development of the players. For example, younger players, maybe they’re stronger, bigger and can kick the ball a mile, and coaches say “That’s the player I want, because I want to win some games here. And he or she is maybe not looking at the more technical player, or the smaller player who maybe isn’t as strong right now and can’t win a game by himself. They miss those players, and sometimes they don’t develop those kind of players. Everyone says we have to have competition, and of course we have to have competition. But that’s not paramount. In the long term, we want to make sure the players can control the ball and move into spaces – have that good soccer sense, and have confidence on the ball. We have to adapt our coaching methodologies to do that. All around the world, there are different challenges. But why do other countries produce these kinds of players in a pipeline? We have to be missing something. We’re producing some good players, but what about exceptional players? Ones who are going to make it no matter where they play? We’re not giving our kids an opportunity to progress.
CSN: Charlie, to you, how tight is the relationship between coaching development and player development? Do we have to develop coaches before our players move on?
CC: The key thing is the coaching. When I was playing, we didn’t have any coaching and I didn’t know what I was doing wrong or right. And I’m sure that if I had a good coach, or someone that understood development – if I had coaches like we have today, I’m sure I would have progressed a lot more and understood the finer points, improving my confidence as a younger kid. You have to understand the tactical side of the game, and you have to understand how young players learn. The steps of learning – repetition, confidence. Being in situations where they have that opportunity to learn, without being judged and hurting their confidence and self-esteem.
CSN: We’ve had a lot of reform at the Canadian Soccer Association, and a lot of things are going to change in the coming year. But for the longest time, it seemed to me that there was a real leadership vacuum at Metcalfe Street, and provinces that were looking to boost player development or change the old system were sort of out there on their own. As B.C. makes this move now to this new structure for competitive youth soccer, is this filling that vacuum? Have we hurt ourselves with this lack of leadership over the years?
CC: I think we have to take a co-ordinated approach. Each of us, in our provinces, probably want to do the best for our provinces. If we look at the national picture, I think we need some strong technical leadership to say “This is what we want. This is what we think should happen.” There was probably a bit of a vacuum, but it wasn’t a lack of trying or a lack of interest. I think, now, it’s going to be more focused. I think you’ll see – on the technical side – it will be much improved over the next year. There’ll be a few things that I’m not able to announce yet – positive things on that front. I’m sure that there will be some good progress. They’re aware of all this. It’s just a matter of having a person in charge saying what the plan is, and what everyone has to do. Right now, a lot of people have a lot of really good ideas. We need to co-ordinate all that into one structure – our plan for the next number of years. Really, it’s not the provinces that develop players. It’s the clubs and the teams. If we can provide them with a lot of tools and some guidance, I think we’re going to go a long way.
CSN: If there was one step we could take – right now – to improve coaching development in Canada, would it be a new technical director with a strong vision at the CSA?
CC: Right – whether it’s a technical director or whatever they call it. And I think that’s being planned. It’s been a problem for a number of years, and like you said, there has been a little bit of a vacuum. I think they’re aware of it now, and hopefully you’ll start to see some changes and some positive stuff.
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